Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

Dog-earing of pages will no doubt ensue. Green seamlessly bridges the gap between the present and the existential, and readers will need more than one box of tissues to make it through Hazel and Gus’ poignant journey.

Demerit: None

Grade: A

These unpleasant details do nothing to diminish the romance; in Green’s hands, they only make it more moving. He shows us true love — two teenagers helping and accepting each other through the most humiliating physical and emotional ordeals — and it is far more romantic than any sunset on the beach.

Demerit:

Green’s characters may be improbably witty, but even under the direst circumstances they are the kind of people you wish you knew.

Grade: A-(publication assigned)

Green’s novel is elegantly plotted, and as sad in places as one might expect a book about adolescent cancer to be. But it’s also brimming with joy. Hazel and Augustus have a zeal for living and for each other that, cancer or not, is rare, and it’s a delight to see their plans unfold and relationship flourish even as they both face death.